As a response to the unsustainability of current global financial systems, parallel sustainable monetary systems are being developed by civil society groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), informed by ecological economics perspectives on development, value, economic scale and growth. These parallel systems of exchange (or grassroots complementary currencies) are designed to promote sustainable development, by localising economic development, building social capital and substituting for material consumption, valuing work which is marginalised in conventional labour markets, and challenging the growth-based monetary system. However, this international movement towards community-based ecological economic practices, is under-researched. This paper presents new empirical evidence from the first international study of the scope and character of grassroots currencies. It identifies the diversity, scale, geography and development trajectory of these initiatives, discusses the implications of these findings for efforts to achieve sustainable development, and identifies future research needs, to help harness the sustainability potential of these initiatives.

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Transitions to Sustainability

Transitions research recognizes that current environmental problems represent formidable societal challenges, whose solution requires deep structural changes in key areas of human activity, but that existing systems tend to be very difficult to ‘dislodge’ because they are stabilized by various lock-in processes that lead to path dependent developments and ‘entrapment’. In recent years, research at UEA has been developing tools for the assessment of sustainability transitions, developing theory, and conducting empirical research on ‘grassroots’ innovations (in a range of empirical domains including housing, food, complementary currencies, community energy projects, and transport). The current focus of research is on the role of culture, civil society and social movements in transition processes.

Sustainable Consumption

There is widespread agreement that the affluent lifestyles of the developed countries must shift towards more sustainable forms of consumption. Improving production technologies alone is unlikely to meet the sustainability challenge: attention must turn to the factors which influence and might transform consumption (demand) at the individual, household and community level. With this perspective in mind, our research includes one strand studying a range of initiatives which aim to produce more sustainable behaviours among individual consumers. A second strand of our work explores what this alternative vision might entail, and how it could be enacted by individuals and communities in search of more sustainable lifestyles.

About 3S

We conduct world-leading research on the social and political dimensions of environment and sustainability issues. 3S is based in the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK.